Susan Johnston

I first heard the amazing #NitaProse discuss The Maid in Iceland, but she’ll be here, in #Ottawa, tomorrow, @writersfest.bsky.social. Highly recommended!

Café Wim was one of my favourite places when I first moved to Ottawa, so I was delighted to find references in works by Colin McAdam and Andre Alexis. Join me next weekend @janeswalk.bsky.social #Ottawa to find out more #WriteOttwa

Things to Do around Ottawa when you're Black by Michael Fraser | CBC Books Michael Fraser has made the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Things to Do around Ottawa when you're Black.

Can anyone help me track down a full copy of Michael Fraser’s poem « Things to do around Ottawa when tou’re black »? www.cbc.ca/books/litera...

Here, Cameron Anstee reflects on some of his early work, on and about Frank Street: “the building’s foundation, slowly / giving way to one hundred years and more / I will never be older than this room / large enough to hold our books…” #WriteOttawa @versefest-ottawa.bsky.social

Writer and #Ottawa Poet Laureate David O’Meara on Elgin St. yesterday: “sub-zero, / overnight, a brocade of frost / on storefront glass. He died in / a doorway, his home a thin / sleeping bag in a city of rooms.” Thank you David for this. @versefest-ottawa.bsky.social #WriteOttawa

elegy for a friend, by @amandaearl.bsky.social: ~ how do we reflect on that which we hold dear, and grief, and loss. Thank you Amanda for sharing this on what turned out to be such a timely day. @versefest-ottawa.bsky.social #WriteOttawa

Jean Van Loon took us into the mind of JR Booth via her book #BuildingOnRiver (@cormorantbooks.bsky.social) while we stood on Parliament Hill, imagined it before there were buildings, and dreaming big dreams. Thanks to @versefest-ottawa.bsky.social and everyone who joined us today! #WriteOttawa

Next, Sneha Madhavan-Reese read from #ElementaryParticles and shared her very moving piece, Nathan Cirillo. We paused, stood in silence. @versefest-ottawa.bsky.social #WriteOttawa

From today’s adventure —“there are some in every crowd” (Natalie Hanna, in lisan al’asfour, ARP Books 2022) - thank you to @battleaxepress.bsky.social for joining us today to explore #Ottawa in Verse, with many thanks also to @versefest-ottawa.bsky.social; #AwesomeOttawa; #WriteOttawa

Thanks @johanneboucher.bsky.social for your very kind words! I had so much fun with it :-). Seeing poetry (and fiction) come alive in the place being discussed is one of my very favourite things. #WriteOttawa.

Thank you for your very kind words and all the goodness you enable!

So excited to do this! We’re capping registration so we can avoid poetry through a megaphone. Ottawa has such great talent, and it’s fascinating to see how poets reflect on place in their work.

I’d rather it look like spring outside, and be eating tacos in St. Luke’s Park, but we can dream — here’s an excerpt from #Ottawa poet laureate David O’Meara’s The Tennis Courts in Winter #WriteOttawa

Vivian Vavassis’ Friday Poem (after @robmclennan.bsky.social) (in @arcpoetry.bsky.social)
“so, you see, i have to believe
there are saints in #ottawa walking
along #elgin or bank among
the guitar players & bums
& busy entrepreneurs;
their heads down and hurried hoping not to be outed….” #writeottawa

elegy for a friend by @amandaearl.bsky.social
“I’d been wandering the Farm Boy
at Metcalfe and Lisgar
holding a bunch of golden beets

by the stems, conjuring up recipes
with sweet potatoes and red onions,
thinking of the salads I could make…” #writeottawa

Paris residents vote in favour of making 500 more streets pedestrian Parisians voted in a referendum on Sunday to pedestrianise a further 500 of the city's streets, giving fresh momentum to efforts by the French capital's left-leaning town hall to curb car usage and improve air quality.

BREAKING & BIG: Today in PARIS, citizens voted in a referendum to PEDESTRIANIZE 500 MORE of the city's streets, giving fresh momentum to efforts by city leaders to create people-places, curb car usage, and improve air quality. 66% of Parisians voted in favour of the measure, official results showed!

Things to Do around Ottawa when you're Black by Michael Fraser | CBC Books Michael Fraser has made the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Things to Do around Ottawa when you're Black.

Also, I’m looking for a full copy of Michael #Fraser’s #poem Things to Do around #Ottawa when you're Black. It made the #CBC Poetry longlist; the first lines (see here: www.cbc.ca/books/litera...) are magic and I really want to read the whole thing so wonder if folks might help me source?

Hello #Ottawa #writer friends - I have a poem by Raymond #Souster (“Farewell to Teaching” — references Dunton Tower at #Carleton and Dow’s Lake) and am trying to figure out whether it was included in one of his manuscripts. So far no luck. Any advice? #WriteOttawa

I wish I could time travel to visit (among other things) gathering spots of #Ottawa past. Murray’s at the #LordElgin served up gossip and intrigue before my time. Here’s some spice from #HughHood in The Motor Boys in Ottawa. #WriteOttawa

Thinking back to the construction of the #Chinatown arch and the vibrancy it offers the neighbourhood. Appreciating @jcyliew.bsky.social’s visceral characterizations of it, and some of my favourite hangouts in #Dandelion @arsenalpulp.bsky.social. #WriteOttawa.

Misty-eyed in the Library of Parliament with #TerryFallis in The Best Laid Plans… #WriteOttawa

Around the #RideauCanal locks near Parliament Hill with #AlanCumyn in Burridge Unbound #WriteOttawa.

Going for a ride on the #RideauCanal with author #JoanneProulx… can’t wait for spring! #WriteOttawa

Druids! And druids running around downtown Ottawa. J. McCurdy’s #fantasy The Serpent’s Egg features some great chase scenes #WriteOttawa.

Colin McAdam’s Fall makes reference to boarding school kids drinking at the former Earl of Sussex pub #WriteOttawa.

There’s a small #spoileralert here, in this second of two pieces about the Alexandra Bridge from #TerryFallis’ The High Road. #WriteOttawa.

Next up, two pieces of spice about the Alexandria Bridge, starting with Mary Jane Maffini’s mystery around #Bluesfest. #WriteOttawa

Gwen Tuinman takes us back to when the #RideauCanal was brand new in her 2024 novel Unrest… #WriteOttawa

I’ll never know if I took a cab that William Hawkins was driving, but glad to finally work through his poems. Here’s a take on the canal #WriteOttawa

Anita Lahey’s work references many #Ottawa settings… here’s a piece about what later became the William Commanda bridge #WriteOttawa. Looking forward to biking across it again soon.